The Prankster
by Rescue45
Summary: Who could possibly be playing pranks on Starsky and Hutch.


The Prankster

Hutch sat down at his desk and put the paper in the typewriter and started to type his report. If there was one thing about police work Starsky and Hutch disliked; it was paperwork. Hutch typed about ten words when he noticed the ink was all smeared on the paper. The ribbon had jammed, again. This was the third time this week that had happened. He ripped the paper out of the typewriter, balled it up and threw it in the trash can. He pulled the ribbon out, and from the looks of it someone had twisted it so that it would jam. Hutch gave Starsky a disgusted look.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I didn't do it. You know I was with you all day. Besides, I wouldn't mess with your typewriter. I don't like typing the reports." Starsky said as he sat on the back of the chair.

Hutch fixed the ribbon and put three new sheets of paper in. This report had to be typed in triplicate. He finished the report and took a pen out of his desk drawer and started to sign the report when all the ink came out of the pen and made his neatly typed report one big ink blot.

Starsky couldn't help but laugh. Hutch looked up at his partner, "Don't."

"Don't what?" He was trying not to laugh again.

Hutch pointed his finger at Starsky, "Just don't. I've got to get this done before we leave and if you remember we have a couple of dates tonight."

Starsky's smile left his face, "Oh yeah. Hey, hurry up with that report will ya?"

Hutch raised his eyebrows, "Yeah," and went back to typing. When he was finished he took another pen out of the drawer and wrote his name on a scrap piece of paper to make sure it would not mess up this report.

Captain Dobey opened the door to the squad room and looked at Hutch, "Haven't you finished that report yet, Hutchinson? How long does it take to write up one simple report?"

Hutch was mad now but signed the report and said, "Here it is, Cap'n." He handed the report to his Captain.

Captain Dobey took the report, "It's about time." He went back into his office.

Hutch looked at the pen that made the mess on his first report and it looked like someone had put a small hole in the tube that holds the ink so that it would leak out when it was picked up.

Starsky and Hutch headed out of the squad room and Hutch said, "Starsk, we've got to find out who's been playing all these pranks on us."

"Yeah, well let's figure it out later. I don't want to be late for our dates."

The next day Starsky found a box of chocolates on his desk. There was no indication who put them there. He popped one in his mouth as Hutch said, "Starsk, I wouldn't." It was too late. Starsky bit into it and immediately spit it out. Now it was Hutch's turn to laugh. He went to the water bottle and filled a cup of water and handed it to his partner.

"I don't know who would ruin good chocolate with that stuff." He took the water from Hutch, "Thanks."

"What was in it?"

"I'm not sure, but it was horrible."

Hutch picked up a piece of the candy and smelled it and laughed, "I think it's garlic."

"Garlic. Who'd put…"

Hutch whispered, "I told you we need to find out who."

"I wonder who it could be." They looked around the squad room and everyone was busy. No one seemed to even notice what happened. "We are detectives, Hutch, we outta be able to figure it out."

"Yeah well, it's been two weeks now of one thing after another and It's time we find out who."

Captain Dobey came into the squad room, looked at Starsky and Hutch and said,"Starsky, Hutch, in my office now."

The two detectives shrugged their shoulders at each other, wondering what they did wrong this time. Hutch looked up and said, "Sure thing, Cap'n."

Hutch poured himself a cup of coffee and walked into the Captain's office and took a seat. Starsky sat on the arm of the chair Hutch was sitting in.

"I want to know what's been going on with the two of you the past few days."

Hutch handed Starsky his coffee when he saw him already reaching for it. He leaned forward in the chair, "What do mean?"

"You've been acting strange lately. Now if the two of you are having some kind of…"

"It's nothing like that, Cap'n." Starsky said handing the coffee back to Hutch.

"Nothing we can't take care of, Captain." Hutch said drinking the last of his coffee.

Captain Dobey just stared at his two detectives. He wanted answers. He wanted to know why they were acting so strange. Starsky and Hutch knew he wanted answers. Starsky shrugged his shoulders, sighed and said, "Well, to tell you the truth, someone's been messing with us the past couple of weeks."

"Messing with you?"

"Yeah, Captain. Three times now someone's messed up the ribbon on my typewriter and yesterday my pen was fixed so that it ruined a report. I had to retype it."

Starsky put his hands out in front of him waving them around, "And today, today, someone ruined perfectly good chocolate by putting garlic in it. Don't forget about your car seat, Hutch."

"A couple of days ago some moved my car seat all the way forward so I nearly broke my legs when I got in it."

"My chair was nailed to the floor last week." Starsky said as he remembered trying to lean back in his chair and found it was nailed to the floor.

"Well, you two had better forget about all that and get some real police work done. I need you on the streets and I need you at your best. Do you have any leads on who's running that protection racket downtown?"

"We got a couple of leads from Huggy yesterday. We were on the way to follow up on them now." Hutch said shaking his head, still wondering who could be playing the pranks on them.

"Well, what are doing here? Get out on the streets."

"Yes, sir." They both said as they got up and walked out of the room.

Captain Dobey looked out of his office window and mumbled, "Put cards around the station with my extension on it for a deli or plumbing service again and see what happens." He laughed as he sat back down in his chair thinking of what he could possibly do to his favorite detectives next week.


End file.
